9/05/2006 @ 12:00AM

2006 Jaguar XJ Super V8

Overview

These are sad days at Ford Motor.

The erstwhile No. 2 of the Big Three, Ford
, is struggling to make sense of a world with $3-a-gallon gasoline. The company isn’t alone: General Motors and, to a lesser extent, DaimlerChrysler and even Toyota Motor are also seeing their truck-based SUVs idle on dealer lots.

Ford is now considering selling Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover, all part of its money-losing Premier Automotive Group. The company needs to pay for its health care and pension costs, which seem to balloon endlessly even as thousands of workers sit idle because of low demand for Ford’s bread-and-butter offerings.

Selling off those brands would be a shame. The company has never understood its luxury brands well, and has been much smarter at integrating the strengths of middle-rung brand Volvo and economy-car brand Mazda. Nonetheless, the latest products from Jaguar and Land Rover are at last exemplars of the clubiness that only English cars can exude.

The lower-end Jags and Land Rovers aren’t superior to their rivals at comparable prices–we’d recommend a BMW 3-series over a Jaguar X-Type any day. But the higher-priced Brit brands are viable alternatives. If you want a truly remarkable, tough SUV that looks like a gorgeous boardroom inside, there’s nothing more compelling than a Range Rover.

Of course, it took billions of dollars for Ford to bootstrap Jaguar and Land Rover to the point where you could happily and unashamedly buy an XJ or Range Rover without having to worry that one (or both) would die on you on the road. And each brand is still plagued somewhat by quality bugaboos. But there isn’t an orthodontist in Greenwich, Conn., who isn’t inclined to make that beauty-for-quality tradeoff. If his neighbors drive Lexuses and Mercedes, all the more reason to buy something with English appeal.

But the sale of Jaguar could be for the better. Having just driven a $91,330 Jaguar XJ LWB with a Super V-8 under the bonnet and enough legroom for an NBA forward in the backseat, it’s clear that Jaguar knows how to define luxury with a capital L.

In other words, the rest of this review will be devoted to the goodness of the XJ–and why it could achieve greatness if only Jaguar had more freedom to create its own cars.

Backseat passengers can operate DVD video and set their own climate and seat position.

From The Driver’s Seat

Ah, let’s not climb into the driver’s seat to start. Let’s instead be a fly on the wall in the backseat, where we find the owners riding as we chauffeur them to dinner on a Saturday evening. He is 6 feet 3 inches; she is 5 feet 11 inches. Both have nearly 4 feet of knee room, and their feet rest comfortably on shaggy lambswool mats. She kicks off her heels to luxuriate in the carpeting. He adjusts his leather seat, reclining the seatback slightly, then leans forward to turn down the air conditioning because, naturally, each outboard seat of this car has its own climate control. He then lowers a burl-walnut picnic tray from the driver’s seatback, produces a notepad from his sport coat pocket and jots a few memos to himself.

Then a call comes in on her mobile phone, which is Bluetooth compatible, thereby activating a hands-free speaker. She is an attorney, and it’s a client on the line. The driver refers the call to her, and she takes it on her own cell headset, delighted that the driver was able to prescreen a call she might not have wanted to answer.

This is a bit of fantasyland. This reviewer did not chauffeur an exec and his wife to dinner, though my wife and I did take a less high-powered couple (who in fact are 6 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 11 inches) out for dinner in this vehicle. And all of the above-described functions of this car are correct. We can even add to it: The rear seat passengers can watch DVDs with wireless headsets (the screens reside in the backs of the front seat headrests) or plug an iPod into the audio system, both of which can be controlled from the front seat audio head unit or a controller in the middle seat armrest.

There’s also an electrically operated sunshade for the rear glass and manual shades for the rear seat side windows. Perhaps least obvious and most appreciated by passengers is how extra thick, laminated glass windows quiet the cabin; you can darn near whisper at 70 miles per hour and be heard throughout the cabin.

Some of the plastics used in the XJ aren’t of premium grade.

Unfortunately, the beauty of this cabin is marred by a few atonal notes. In our recent test drive of Volkswagen’s new GTI, we found a higher grade of interior plastic than what you’ll get in this Jag. And can somebody in Coventry, England, please convey to the bean counters in Dearborn, Mich., that a $90,000 luxury sedan should have buttons, dials and cupholders that don’t look as though they belong in a Ford Explorer? Warmed-over Taurus will not do when a long-wheelbase Audi A8, BMW 7 series and Mercedes S-Class get knurled metallic switches, lacquer coats heavy enough to protect a Steinway and hefty leather seating surfaces. These touches may be superficial to the number crunchers at Ford, but when you’re selling to a buyer who knows about the finer things in life, reminding him that his car shares its pedigree with the rental fleet at Hertz isn’t smart business.

Luckily, Jaguar has the ability to make this car handle and ride like a vehicle you’d want to be driven in as well as drive.

The steering effort is light but just communicative enough. The electrically controlled air suspension adapts to the road imperceptibly, so the ride quality is always smooth. Pick the ugliest road, rife with potholes, and the XJ will tame it. This car also turns tightly for such a long vehicle. You’ll be surprised the first time you parallel park and don’t have to struggle at all.

It also jumps quickly. It should: A 400-horsepower supercharged V-8 resides under the hood, and it hits peak torque (413 pound feet) at 3,500 revolutions per minute. So a quick stomp of the throttle launches the 4,000-pound car toward the speed limit with a forceful growl, and a six-speed ZF transmission clicks off gear changes efficiently, without any hunting or drama. It’s also nice to know, should fuel economy be a concern to someone spending $90,000 on this Jag, that it averages 17 city/24 highway. That’s not superb, but at least it’s sane.

The XJ feels massive inside, but it should feel more exclusive as well.

Should You Buy This Car?

We’re really not sure if or when Ford might decide to auction Jaguar to the highest bidder. We also don’t know what that would mean to the future of the brand. The obvious way to make Jaguar more appealing is to sharpen its sportiness–Jaguar started life selling exceptionally sexy sports cars that competed with the likes of Porsche. That isn’t where its bread and butter is today, and the carmaker doesn’t have top end sports coupes (XK) or an entry-point sports car to make buyers associate the Jaguar of today with the Jaguar that once was.

That should’ve changed the moment Ford bought Jaguar way back in 1989. Perhaps it will change now.

Meanwhile, some of what Jaguar does in 2006, like this XJ, is pretty darn good. It could be better, though, and whether or not Ford sells, some future manager needs to be granted the freedom to make a car this good truly superior. It won’t take much, just cosmetics, but that’s the difference between buyers heading to the Germans or buying a Jaguar.